Vietnam sentences 9 to death for heroin trafficking

A court in northern Vietnam has sentenced nine people including three women to death after finding them guilty of heroin trading and possession.

Three others were given life sentences while the court in Ha Nam province, 60 kilometers (38 miles) south of Hanoi, handed down jail terms between 12 to 20 years to nine others on the same charges at the end of the five-day trial Friday.

The official Vietnam News Agency says they were convicted of trading and possessing nearly 19 kilograms (42 pounds) of heroin between June 2016 and March 2017.

Vietnam has one of the toughest drug laws in the world where trafficking 100 grams of heroin or 600 grams of opium is punishable by death.